Nobilified

1. What is your company’s product/service?
I am an international art dealer. Nobilified is dedicated to revolutionising the art world. Nobilified believes that, while not everyone may have the artistic skills required to paint a masterpiece, everyone possesses an intuitively creative mind. At Nobilified, customer dreams and fantasies are transformed into actual works of art, which can be proudly displayed in any home, dorm, office, yacht, or even a swanky château! Everyone has an artistic side, and everyone sees the world in their own unique way.

In addition to providing high quality oil paintings, Nobilified seeks to change the way people perceive art, by making it fun and accessible, thus giving customers the opportunity to share or gift a unique custom-made oil painting with friends and family. No longer will having an oil painting of oneself hanging above the chimney be out-of-reach. This privilege used to be reserved for the upper tiers of society, but now it is shared with everyone.

2. Where was it founded and where do you now have offices?
Nobilified was founded in August 2013. I began shortly after graduating from UBC in Vancouver. I have adopted the “location independent” lifestyle. Since I work from my computer, I am taking this opportunity to travel and move on a quarterly basis. I shift mostly between Shanghai, Hanoi and Victoria BC. I am thinking of spending time in Barcelona to set up an art gallery.

3. Number of employees at peak (and now)?
At peak, I had four full-time employees from Norway. Currently I work with four outsourced employees: a tech assistant in Canada, a PR team in Las Vegas and a graphic designer/social media expert in Philippines. I have also started my own one man dropshipping depot in Portland, OR in order to forward all American orders I receive.

4. What was the hardest thing about building the company?
The hardest thing so far has been doing everything on my own. I bootstrapped the company with $40 and have since sold thousands of paintings to customers around the world. Interestingly enough, although I have learnt quite a bit of technical information, it has been the mental aspect of being an entrepreneur that has been most difficult. You ride and die with your company so when things are going well you feel on top of the world, but when things are slow, you still need to get out of your bed to work.

It is important to just keep chugging along and take every experience as a learning experience. I am 24, have been featured in the New York Post and the Indepedent, and on the Ellen Degeneres Show. My customers include Bruno Mars, Kate Upton and numerous other high profile people/CEOs. There are good weeks and there are slow ones.

This is my first company and I'm currently working on other projects based out of Shanghai/Ulan Bataar.

5. Where do you see your company in three years?
In three years, I see Nobilified as being a leader of the affordable customised art world. My aim is to help individuals easily decorate their spaces in unique ways. I would like to be the Ikea of the art world.

6. Do any other Ecolint alumni work with you?
I have not worked with any Ecolint alumni on this project, however I have received helped from some. Friends who are now working for large companies have commissioned paintings for their bosses, who have themselves become excellent customers. It has been great to receive support from former classmates who have heard through the grapevine about what I am doing.

I would love to work with Ecolint alumni, so if anyone feels interested in joining this opportunity don’t hesitate to contact me on LinkedIn. I would love to hear from other alumni who have taken the entrepreneurial road.

7. In what ways (if any!) did your Ecolint education help you in founding a company?
There is no doubt that Ecolint is a very unique school. I spent two years at Campus des Nations, before completing the IB at LGB. Both were rich and different experiences thanks to the classmates and teachers I met. Having lived in Vancouver and Shanghai since graduating has provided further proof of just how different the Ecolint community is.

At Ecolint, I met what one could consider “truly wealthy” individuals. By wealthy, I mean to have a certain level of culture which has been ingrained into one's family through generations. You can feel a sense of power going through the halls of the school. Part of the inspiration for Nobilified came when trying to picture what former classmates would have looked like had they been the subject of an artist's brush. I am sure many of Ecolint's current students would enjoy their own Nobilified portrait.

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mentality, however it has really only been since graduating from university that I have had time to pursue what I want from life. Ecolint helped destroy any limiting beliefs that I ever had, taught me that anything is possible and that most people do not do the typical day job. Looking back, my time in Geneva helped shape many of my outlooks on life.

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Here are a few links to articles about Nobilified. There are many more, but these are the ones that have put the biggest smile on my face.